Not really solar powered?

Over the last few days I have talked to a lot of people about my MINI E. A lot of that came about due to various parties and holidays. There was actually a MINI E in our local 4th of July parade, and a few people searched me out because they thought it was mine (it was actually Peter Trepp).

One of the hardest things for people to believe is that my car is solar powered, so rather than continue to tell everyone that, I have decided to tell them the truth. My car is actually powered by a medium-sized fusion engine.

I know that seems a little far-fetched, and it is, but let me explain, and I think you will believe me.

While I am not the only one that has access to this technology, I might be the first one to go public with it this way. The technology is not new, either. Almost a century ago a lone German scientist established the basic physics behind the system now being used to provide energy to MINI E 019. Most other scientists didn’t agree with his ideas then, but in 1921 he earned a Nobel Prize largely because of his pioneering work with photons.

It turns out that there is a fusion reactor that I have been granted access to through a government-funded program. While this program is not actually a secret, you can’t participate in it unless you know the right people. And do the right paperwork. And then of course there is the waiting period. All MINI E drivers know about waiting.

Nuclear fusion is the process of combining atomic nuclei together, and under the right circumstances this “fusing” produces energy. The most basic form of nuclear fusion is the fusion of two hydrogen nuclei. That is the process that provides most of the energy I get for MINI E 019.

Many of you have heard of “cold fusion”, which is a reference to fusion that happens at relatively low temperatures (under 50 °C). So far cold fusion doesn’t work. Regular old fusion happens at much higher temperatures (like 120,000,000 °C).

This high temperature makes it very difficult to get close to that fusion engine, and it is kind of hard to plug wires into it, so we use that century old technology I mentioned above to capture the energy from a safe distance. The devices used to capture the photons emitted by the fusion reactor turn them into electrical energy, which then goes into the battery pack of my MINI E.

Okay, so there it is. I told everyone about the fusion reactor. I am glad I got that off my chest. And just to bring the whole thing into the light of day, here is one more detail about this reactor – it can produce over 250 billion kWh every day.

If any of you want to know where this reactor is, please leave me a comment and I will send you a private e-mail with instructions on how to find it (I am not comfortable sharing this information out in the open).

We normally have access to that same reactor as well, but were in a bad mood last month when our access was blocked for three weeks straight. Good thing my MINI instead runs on a chemical mixture aged for millions of years.